sczcardfan

I would not anticipate seeing much land while at sea, nor expect to be able to consistently receive land based cell phone service.

3 hours ago, roxette said:

If one cabin has a lot of obc, and friends in another doesn't, can the first cabin bring, and pay for, a speciality dinner for the others?

On my cruise last year, a traveling friend wanted to thank the rest of us in the group of 4 and paid for a dinner in Aqualina. It was charged to their room. I do not believe they had obc to use, but if you have it available then you certainly should be able to.

2 hours ago, donaldsc said:

As I see it here is the reason that Azamara is going to die.  For any business to survive they have to get new customers to replace older (agewise and interest wise) customers who stop buying the product.  The same thing occurs with cruise lines and especially with lines who have an older clientele such as Azamara. Although I have not cruised on the new Azamara post Covid and under the new management the comments here on CC appear to be that Azamara is doing a good job once you get on board.

 

Azamara's problem is that 98% of their customers and potential customers do not use CC and they book either by calling Azamara or through their TA.  From what I read here the booking experience for Azamara is horrible so the potential say "forget it" and go to another cruise line that has a better front and back office staff.  They never get to enjoy the Azamara onboard experience.  These potential new customers are gone forever.

 

Any comments?

 

DON

At the same time, I think the people who find and use Cruise Critic are much more likely to know there is a problem. Have a cruise coming up with my mother, aunt, and a family friend also booking on the ship...and none of them would have known there were any issues if I had not mentioned it. Obviously 1st time Azamara cruisers who experience significant issues are going to not want to sail with them again, but I do not think any of us have any idea what percentage of people that is.

1 hour ago, donaldsc said:

I have done several Azamara cruises before they the new owners came on board and we liked them very much.  It now seems as if the new back office is incapable or running the cruise line.  My question to those who have sailed on Azamara recently is how is the cruising experience once you get on board.

 

DON

While things at headquarters seem to have managed to have gotten even worse than the old days, for as long as I have sailed on Azamara (and followed this board on Cruise Critic) the refrain has always been to try and ignore the difficulties presented by headquarters and enjoy the experience onboard.

So until I have a negative experience onboard personally, my own hope & expectation is that I will continue to enjoy the actual product and continue to wonder how they are unable to reflect that quality with the shoreside staff.

On 8/26/2023 at 5:30 AM, crusinbanjo said:

Mine still shows a coupon with no value.

Mine was showing a coupon with no value. But to fix that they are now managing to show that I have no upcoming reservations...

I anticipate having a wonderful trip in 16 days, but the IT snafus (to be kind) that Azamara is dealing with (or not) are most amazing.

The FAQ section of Azamara's website lists the cost as $35/pp to dine in Aqualina or Prime C.

Sailing with other family members (booked separately). My aunt was able to purchase the Ultimate Beverage Package using her OBC (and received her loyalty status savings) by phoning Azamara. I tried to do the same thing, and was told I could only book the Ultimate Beverage Package using OBC once I was on the ship, would have to pay for it using a credit card to order it now.

So very much a case of YMMV.

Getting connected (from the US) was only a short wait, so not overly upset, just find the lack of consistency people are facing ridiculous. (plus it is stupid to not be able to use the OBC now)

13 hours ago, rtdiva said:

My favorite alcoholic drinks are kahlua served in coffee and Fireball cinnamon whisky, are they offered as part of the offers onboard? I didn’t see either listed. 

Kahlua is part of the Ultimate Beverage Package, so you will either need to purchase drinks individually or get that beverage package. No mention of Fireball that I see on any of the package offerings, so not sure about its availability.

Thanks for the photos. Only problem now is my realization that I'm going to have to drink a few extra glasses in order to "test" everything... :p:D

I'm glad some of you are finding replacement itineraries with Azamara. No such luck for me, but I'm happy with a great itinerary in aqua class with Celebrity. In any case, the July 14 Quest cruise itinerary is butchered with three overnights in Venice. On an eight night cruise, three of those nights are in Venice. Again, this is the result of Azamara being a little too slow on the draw in securing alternative ports.

I assume the multiple nights in Venice are to allow guests to enjoy the Redentore Festival which takes place there on July 15th & 16th in 2017. I can understand why some people would not enjoy that, but I wouldn't call it butchered as I also expect that this could be quite a potential draw to others (and indeed Azamara is doing the same thing in 2018).

Providing a credit that can only be used for shore excursions, but which is restricted to only be allowed to be used once onboard, is a ridiculous policy. The sooner that Azamara can get their technology to allow for these to be prebooked the better (Larry Pimentel recently expressed hope that this will be possible sometime in 2017).

Literally anything else that I would use onboard credit for I don't need to prebook (or actually cannot prebook). The one thing which should be prebooked, that is the one thing that Azamara decides to create the credit for...:confused:

Don't know how helpful this is, as my memory has reached a point that I can't remember specifics from my last Azamara voyage. But my aunt who has to eat gluten free is a huge fan of Azamara and (like all too many of us) is much more worried about eating too much while on the cruise than struggling to find good things to eat.

I don't recall any gluten free beer (and don't see any on the beer package list on Azamara's website) -- my aunt would have been enjoying wine regardless of the existence of any gf beer.

To be fair to Azamara, I'd bet most passengers are much more concerned with the wine choices than with the quality of cruise documents. :p

I've read in several places that the only complimentary beers offered are Bud, Bud Light and Becks. Pretty appalling list, if you ask me. Does anyone have a list of premium beers offered?

Yes. Yes it is an appalling list. Equally appalling is that the premium beer list (which you can buy individually, or a beer package for, https://www.azamaraclubcruises.com/booked-guests/onboard-packages/beverage-packages) is full of similarly blah beers. I can think of no rationale for having 20+ blah beers. You could eliminate half (or more) of those and no one would care. If you're going to bother having that many beers, at least have a selection that includes some more interesting beers (many of which are available at a similar price point).

Does anyone know what the "house" pours are for gin, whiskey, vodka?

But at least I can flavor the complimentary spirits...

I think Carnival would rather scrap it than help out RCI/Azamara. I'd be highly surprised if they made that sale.

Pretty sure they would look at it more as towards the benefit of their bottom line, rather than how it was helping out others.

For the AzAmazing Evening in Hvar, most people walked. But for those for whom the 10-15 minute walk was a difficulty, Azamara provided shuttle vans to get those people to/from the event. Not something I would worry about, fully expect Azamara will do their best to get anyone interested in the Evenings to the event.

On my two cruises on Azamara involving Venice (one on Journey, one on Quest), they have docked at San Basilio. Very convenient, with a vaporetto (water bus) stop a few steps away from the terminal, or if you feel like walking an easy enough (20'ish minute) walk to St. Mark's Square.

Wondering which dock is used by Journey in Venice.

San Basilio Pier which smaller ships use, or the Main Cruise Port?

As others have noted, there is steak available in the main dining room every day. As for the pasta, you can order a 2nd entree if you want, but I've also had them quickly offer to serve me a pasta dish in appetizer/side dish portion sizes when I've asked.

No limit/charge for luggage on a train in Italy. However, also no help getting it on/off the train and storing it (if the luggage is large you likely will end up leaving it at the end of the train car).

I wasn't looking for n-a beers the last time I was cruising on Azamara, and I probably won't remember to check and report back after my September cruise, but per the website (which means the information does need to be taken with several grains of salt) Azamara offers O'Douls and Buckler as non-alcoholic beer options.

Cheryl does your card get swiped every time so you see what you consumed? Sounds like a good deal for 10 days.

 

K

Not Cheryl, but purchased the premium package for my recent cruise.

My experience was yes they did swipe my card every time. Not so easy to see exactly what you consumed however. You get a printout detailing all the charges to your seapass, but it just line-items the bar that charged you and the charge (zero), but did not include information on what you ordered and were charged for.

While I was on the Equinox and not the Solstice, I am posting this here as it seems to be providing information useful to all Solstice Class ships and not just the Solstice.

Ship: Equinox

Deck: Deck 11

Cabin #: 1559

Cabin Class: Aqua Class

Side of ship: port side

Bed near: bed near bathroom

Quiet cabin?: yes, cabin was quiet, no noise disturbances noticed, only noise that was heard was when on the balcony during the day and even then it was definitely not excessive noise

Balcony view: no obstructions, although with the location between the two "humps" could not see the bow or stern of the ship, but even it wasn't it felt close enough to a full 180-degree view to have no complaints.

Balcony size: normal

Wind: no wind issues, the balcony felt very sheltered from the wind, on one sea day the wind made the ship's pool deck (and other outside areas) unenjoyable but this balcony was perfectly calm and lovely

Aft soot: n/a (not an aft cabin)

Problems with cabin: none (other than limited clothes storage options, but that is not specific to this cabin)

Other comments: Would prefer a cabin closer to the main bank of elevators (and preferably on the hump for a larger balcony), but the walk to either bank of elevators was not an issue. Shower in aqua class cabin was fantastic. Comfort of balcony chairs (with foot stools) and lack of wind on balcony were fantastic. Balcony was shaded (which I liked).

Hi all, sorry if this obvious question has been answered before...but....

 

if I buy one drinks package, can both myself and husband get drink at same time e.g. 2 cokes, 2 coffees, 2 glasses of wine?

 

Thanks

Sorry, but Celebrity specifically states that drink packages cannot be shared. So if you both want drinks you would need to buy two packages, or one package and pay for 2nd drinks as-you-go, or (obviously) not get a package and just pay-as-you-go.

Celebrity have obviously noticed the error on the website and have therefore changed it over the last 21-24 hours as it no longer says that you will receive the glasses.

 

For the few of us who have purchased this BEFORE the website change it will be interested how they play this out once onboard.

 

I like many others have printed out both the initial web splash page and the confirmation email which clearly states that you receive the glasses.

 

Now we don't sail for another 4 weeks so i expect them to either

 

a) send us an email explaining the error before we sail (and possibly give us the option of canceling)

b) mention the error when we speak to either guest services of the sommelier (it is requested that we do this on our confirmation email) and to do this on the day of embarkation - again giving us the option to cancel.

c) Say nothing and once we have done the class and ask for the glasses they then tell us it was a mistake.

I agree that those are how I see the options playing out, although if they don't take 'Option A' then I would be be unhappy with how they handle this.

If they know enough to fix the website, they should at least be acknowledging those that booked under a different description.

Yep, they must have a record of everyone who booked this online at $15, and their email address where they sent confirmation. This should be a simple process to address this issue...whether or not they manage it properly remains to be seen though.

I see you are on a Carnival cruise in December.............is this price list from Carnival???? or from Celebrity?????

It's a Carnival phone number, so I would definitely assume that this is a Carnival price list and NOT a Celebrity price list.